mikey albert – mighty mikey

Mikey is an incredibly happy little boy, who brings so much joy to everyone he meets. Mikey is known for his infectious giggles and charming smiles, he is very social and loves lots of attention!

Mikey had a traumatic start to life. He was born 4 weeks early via emergency C section due to reduced movement in his final hours in the womb. He arrived blue and not breathing, doctors thought it was too late. With a bit of help Mikey started to breathe and was rushed to NICU. Mikey was having constant seizures in NICU so he was transferred to PMH just hours old for hypothermic cooling. His body temperature was reduced to 33 degrees for 72 hours and then slowly warmed up.
After an MRI at five days old our world came crumbling down, we were told Mikey had suffered a lack of oxygen in his final hours in the womb resulting in Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) – severe global brain damage. Within months Mikey received diagnoses of quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy, epilepsy, microcephaly, hearing loss and global developmental delay.

We started physio with Mikey right from NICU, we wanted to do whatever we could to help his little body move. We devote hours of time to trying different types of therapies to help Mikey reach his potential. We have certainly learnt to never underestimate him as he is bound to prove us wrong!
Unfortunately all of the therapy and specialised equipment is extremely expensive so it is struggle to find the funds to do everything we want to with Mikey. Being selected as a Focus Star with the SRBF means that Mikey now sees his private physio regularly and completes intensive blocks of therapy. The results have already been amazing! Knowing that Mikey will continue to receive therapy that we can’t afford to provide him is amazing.
We are incredibly grateful that Mikey has received a treadmill through the SRBF. We use Mikey’s walker on the treadmill to try and disassociate his legs so he can learn to step. Having this at home means we can jump on most days of the weeks and do some gait training, repetition is key!
We are also incredibly grateful to receive respite through the foundation. With Mikey’s dad working away, often for long periods of time, it is hard to complete even simple chores. Having help at home from trained professionals gives us a chance to not only get on top of everything but also recharge so we can be the very best parents to Mikey.

While Mikey has so many challenges in front of him, he remains bright bubbly and very active. Mikey LOVES the Wiggles, singing songs, eating, walks in his pram and being thrown in the air by dad.
He’s a little thrill seeker who lights up our lives.